Lawyers to pursue Penang exco’s remand issue in Alor Setar

Move comes after lawyers failed to get anyone in the Penang High Court to revise the remand order on Phee Boon Poh by a lower court, which they claim to be illegal.

GEORGE TOWN: After failing to get the Penang High Court to overturn a remand order on Phee Boon Poh, lawyers for the state executive councillor who is detained over a corruption probe, will pursue the matter at the courts in Alor Setar tomorrow.

Co-counsel Ramkarpal Singh said since no one in the judiciary was available to process their application in Penang, they would head to the capital of Kedah tomorrow.

“We have also tried reaching Penang High Court senior justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail at her home at Ayer Rajah Road, but failed,” he told reporters today.

He said since all high courts of Malaya can hear cases from other parts of west Malaysia, they would head to Alor Setar tomorrow since Sunday was the start of the working week there.

Earlier, Ramkarpal and lawyer RSN Rayer headed to the Penang court complex but were told by a security guard that no one in the judiciary was available to entertain their request.

“I hope we will succeed tomorrow in Alor Setar, as this involves the liberty of a subject. It is about the freedom of a detained person,” Ramkarpal said.

The lawyers plan to apply to the High Court to revise the five-day remand order issued by an assistant registrar of a lower court earlier today.

MACC deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Ghazali Muhamad Nadzri had earlier applied for a seven-day remand application for the Sungai Puyu state assemblyman to be investigated for allegedly using his office or position for gratification under Section 23 of the MACC Act 2009.

The other two men remanded in relation to the case – a father and son aged 70 and 37 – are the owners of the carbon filter factory which is alleged to have been operating illegally for more than 10 years.